Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, and Max von Sydow, all major movie stars of their time star in this espionage thriller about a CIA employee who reads publications for their possible strategic value who finds himself on the run from the CIA. This espionage thriller began a new subgenre with its debut after President Nixon and the Watergate Scandal that brought a new sense of paranoia and focus onto our own government as well as contributing to a different more serious, authentic cinematic experience of assassins and spies. Preceded by various espionage adventure thrillers more focused on action as well as the apparent insistence of a strong female role in its movie such as Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) with Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason; Murderers' Row (1966) with Dean Martin, Ann-Margret, and Karl Malden; Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren; Hitchcock's Topaz (1969) and the eight James Bond movies (1962-1974) before The Three Days of Condor opened. Three Days of Condor is a serious and slower paced movie that provokes dread as a backdrop allowing the mind to engorge itself on tension-building, thought provoking fear similar to the two major spy movies that came before it, The Ipcress File (1965) with Michael Caine and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) with Richard Burton, Oskar Werner, and Claire Bloom and also may have later influenced John le Carre's The Russia House (1990) with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. Robert Redford would reappear later along with Brad Pitt in The Spy Game (2001) with its gritty and harshly thoughtful script. Enemy of the State (1998) and even The Bourne Identity (2002) these much more action-oriented espionage films owe quite a bit to Three Days o Condor. Even with its slower pace, the direction, editing, and scripted performance retain their appeal and ability to captivate the audience much like the mystery thriller of Terrence Young's Wait Until Dark (1967) with Audrey Hepburn. A great film in itself for delivering on a difficult overall subtle tone for a espionage thriller without much action allowing the audience in simmer with nerves and a haunting sense of apprehension that indirectly takes into the very spotlight as the actors on the screen experience.
Review of Three Days of the Condor
